On my way to Santa Cruz one day during my holiday I stopped off at Mount Madonna State Park. I wanted to walk in the redwood forests again before taking a road trip across country. I had paused at a lookout spot to take in the views across the valley over the tops of the trees when all of a sudden this magnificent Turkey Vulture flew into the clearing in front of me. I scrabbled about to change my lens hoping that the vulture would hang around long enough for me to get a few shots. I think that being caught unprepared i didn't get the setting exactly right, a much faster shutter speed that the 1/800 sec that I used would have been preferable but even so I did manage to get some decent shots as the bird swooped and turned in front and above me before heading off once again in search of food.
These birds were a common sight along the highways in California, presumably attracted by the amount of roadkill. Although they are not particularly pretty birds to look at they certainly play an important role and they look majestic when they're soaring high above on the thermals.
Whenever I travel somewhere new I am always keen to see the different wildlife and on this trip I was treated to some really wonderful sights. I didn't get to photograph them all but I am pretty happy with the results for those that I did.
If you have enjoyed these then look out for future posts when I will be sharing more from my trip.
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